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Bitcoin’s short-term price prospects slightly improved, but most traders are far from optimistic

Bitcoin’s derivatives metrics reflect slight improvements since the $17,600 low, but whales and market makers continue to price higher risk of another breakdown.

A mild sense of hope emerged among Bitcoin (BTC) investors after the June 18 drop to $17,600 becomes more distant and an early ascending pattern points toward $21,000 in the short-term.

Bitcoin 12-hour USD price at FTX. Source: TradingView

Recent negative remarks from lawmakers continued to curb investor optimism. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Swiss National Bank (SNB) deputy head Thomas Muser said that the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem would cease to exist if current financial regulations are implemented in the crypto industry.

An article published in The People's Daily on June 26 mentioned the Terra (LUNA), now renamed Terra Classic (LUNC), network's collapse and local blockchain expert Yifan He referring to crypto as a Ponzi scheme. When asked by Cointelegraph to clarify the statement on June 27, Yifan He stated that "all unregulated cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin are Ponzi schemes based on my understanding."

On June 24, Sopnendu Mohanty the chief fintech officer of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) pledged to be "brutal and unrelentingly hard" on any "bad behavior" from the cryptocurrency industry.

Ultimately, Bitcoin investors face mixed sentiment as some think the bottom is in and $20,000 is support. Meanwhile, others fear the impact that a global recession could have on risk assets. For this reason, traders should analyze derivatives markets data to understand if traders are pricing higher odds of a downturn.

Bitcoin futures show a balanced force between buyers and sellers

Retail traders usually avoid monthly futures because their price differs from regular spot markets at Coinbase, Bitstamp and Kraken. Still, those are professional traders' preferred instruments as they avoid the funding rate fluctuation of the perpetual contracts.

These fixed-month contracts usually trade at a slight premium to spot markets because investors demand more money to withhold the settlement. Consequently, futures should trade at a 5% to 10% annualized premium in healthy markets. One should note that this feature is not exclusive to crypto markets.

Bitcoin 3-month futures’ annualized premium. Source: Laevitas

Whenever this indicator fades or turns negative, this is an alarming, bearish red flag signaling a situation known as backwardation. The fact that the average premium barely touched the negative area while Bitcoin traded down to $17,600 is remarkable.

Despite currently holding an extremely low futures premium (basis rate), the market has kept a balanced demand between leverage buyers and sellers.

To exclude externalities specific to the futures instrument, traders must also analyze the Bitcoin options markets. For instance, the 25% delta skew shows when Bitcoin whales and arbitrage desks are overcharging for downside or upside protection.

During bearish markets, options investors give higher odds for a price crash, causing the skew indicator to rise above 12%. On the other hand, a market's generalized FOMO induces a negative 12% skew.

Bitcoin 30-day options 25% delta skew: Source: Laevitas

After peaking at 36% on June 18, the highest-ever record, the indicator receded to the current 15%. Options markets have shown an extreme risk-aversion until June 25, when the 25% delta skew finally broke below 18%.

The current 25% skew indicator continues to display higher risks of a downside from professional traders but it no longer sits at levels that reflecti extreme risk aversion.

Related: Celsius Network hires advisers ahead of potential bankruptcy — Report

The bottom could be in according to on-chain data

Some metrics suggest that Bitcoin may have bottomed on June 18 after miners sold significant quantities of BTC. According to Cointelegraph, this indicates that capitulation has occurred already and Glassnode, an on-chain analysis firm, demonstrated that the Bitcoin Mayer Multiple fell below 0.5, which is extremely rare and hasn't happened since 2015.

Whales and arbitrage desks might take some time to adjust after key players like Three Arrows Capital face serious contraction and liquidation risks due to a lack of liquidity or excessive leverage. Until there's enough evidence that the contagion risk is alleviated, Bitcoin price probably continue to trade below $22,000.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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Large Bitcoin liquidations mean one man’s pain is another man’s pleasure — Time to buy the dip?

Pro traders were forced to cut their losses after margin and futures markets became over-leveraged, creating a potential entry point for bullish buyers.

Bitcoin (BTC) has been unable to restore the $24,000 support since Celsius, a popular staking and lending platform, paused withdrawals from its platform on June 13. A growing number of users believe Celsius mismanaged its funds following the collapse of the Anchor Protocol on the Terra Luna ecosystem and rumors of its insolvency continue to circulate.

An even larger issue emerged on June 14 after crypto venture capital firm Three Arrows Capital (3AC) reportedly lost $31.4 million through trading on Bitfinex. Furthermore, 3AC was a known investor in Terra, which experienced a 100% crash in late May.

Unconfirmed reports that 3AC faced liquidations totaling hundreds of millions from multiple positions agitated the market in the early hours of June 15, causing Bitcoin to trade at $20,060, its lowest level since Dec. 15, 2020.

Let’s take a look at current derivatives metrics to understand whether today’s bearish trend reflects top traders' sentiment.

Margin markets deleveraged after a brief spike in longs

Margin trading allows investors to borrow cryptocurrency and leverage their trading position to potentially increase returns. For example, one can buy cryptocurrencies by borrowing Tether (USDT) to enlarge exposure.

On the other hand, Bitcoin borrowers can short the cryptocurrency if they bet on its price decline, and unlike futures contracts, the balance between margin longs and shorts isn‘t always matched. This is why analysts monitor the lending markets to determine whether investors are leaning bullish or bearish.

Interestingly, margin traders boosted their leverage long (bull) position on June 14 to the highest level in two months.

Bitfinex margin Bitcoin/USD longs/shorts ratio. Source: TradingView

Bitfinex margin traders are known for creating position contracts of 20,000 BTC or higher in a very short time, indicating the participation of whales and large arbitrage desks.

As the above chart indicates, even on June 14 the number of BTC/USD long margin contracts outpaced shorts by 49 times, at 107,500 BTC. For reference, the last time this indicator stood below 10, favoring longs, was on March 14. The result benefited the counter-traders at that time, as Bitcoin rallied 28% over the following two weeks.

Bitcoin futures data shows pro traders were liquidated

The top traders' long-to-short net ratio excludes externalities that might have impacted the margin instruments. By analyzing these whale positions on the spot, perpetual and futures contracts, one can better understand whether professional traders are bullish or bearish.

Exchanges' top traders Bitcoin long-to-short ratio. Source: Coinglass

It's important to note the methodological discrepancies between different exchanges, so the absolute figures have less importance. For example, while Huobi traders have kept their long-to-short ratio relatively unchanged between June 13 and June 15, professional traders at Binance and OKX reduced their longs.

This movement could represent liquidations, meaning the margin deposit was insufficient to cover their longs. In these cases, the exchange's automatic deleveraging mechanism takes place by selling the Bitcoin position to reduce the exposure. Either way, the long-to-short ratio is affected and signals a less bullish net position.

Liquidations could represent a buying opportunity

Data from derivatives markets, including margin and futures, show that professional traders were definitely not expecting such a deep and continuous price correction.

Even though there has been a high correlation to the stock market and the S&P 500 index posted a 21.6% year-to-date loss, professional crypto traders were not expecting Bitcoin to drop another 37% in June.

While leverage allows one to maximize gains, it can also force cascading liquidations such as the recent events seen this week. The automated trading systems of exchanges and DeFi platforms sell investors’ positions at whatever price is available when the collateral is insufficient to cover the risk and this put heavy pressure on spot markets.

These liquidations sometimes create a perfect entry point for those savvy and brave enough to counter-trade excessive corrections due to lack of liquidity and the absence of bids on the trading platforms. Whether or not this is the final bottom is something that will be impossible to determine until a few months after this volatility has passed.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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BTC price crashes to $20.8K as ‘deadly’ candles liquidate $1.2 billion

Carnage for short-term traders and speculators as volatility destroys both long and short positions on the way to $20,000.

Bitcoin (BTC) came within $1,000 of its previous cycle all-time highs on June 14 as liquidations mounted across crypto markets. 

BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView

Bitcoin price hits 18-month lows

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hitting $20,816, on Bitstamp, its lowest since the week of December 14, 2020.

A sell-off that began before the weekend intensified after the June 13 Wall Street opening bell, with Bitcoin and altcoins falling in step with United States equities.

The S&P 500 finished the day down 3.9%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index shed 4.7% ahead of key comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve on its anti-inflation policy.

The worst of the rout was reserved for crypto, however, and with that, BTC/USD lost 22.4% from the start of the week to the time of writing.

The pair was also “uncomfortably close” to crossing the $20,000 mark, trading firm QCP Capital noted, this representing the all-time high from its previous halving cycle, something which had never happened before.

In a circular to Telegram channel subscribers, QCP flagged both the inflation topic and potential insolvency at fintech protocol Celsius as driving the sell-off.

“We have been expressing concern about the collapse of a significant credit player since the LUNA blowup. The market is now panicking about the impact and contagion if Celsius becomes insolvent,” it explained:

“Some key liquidation levels that the market is looking out for are 1,150 in ETH, 0.8 in stETH/ETH and 20,000 in BTC. We are getting uncomfortably close.”

For other analysts, all bets were off when it came to guessing the BTC price floor or whether key trendlines would hold as support.

Rekt Capital warned that the 200-week simple moving average (SMA) at $22,400 had not been accompanied by significant volume interest, leaving the door open for a test of lower levels.

“BTC has reached the 200-week MA but the volume influx isn’t as strong as in previous Bear Market Bottoms formed at the 200 MA,” he told Twitter followers:

“But downside wicking below the 200 MA occurs & perhaps this wicking needs to occur this time to inspire a strong influx of volume.”

At the time of writing, the 200 SMA appeared to be acting more like resistance than support on low timeframes.

BTC/USD 1-week candle chart (Bitstamp) with 200 SMA. Source: TradingView

Altcoin futures index shows full force of retracement

On altcoins, Ether (ETH) fell to 40% below the previous week’s high to near the $1,000 mark.

Related: Lowest weekly close since December 2020 — 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week

Should that break, it would be the first time that ETH/USD had traded at three-digit prices since January 2021. As Cointelegraph reported, the pair had already crossed its $1,530 peak from Bitcoin’s previous halving cycle.

Across altcoins, there was little cause for celebration in this downtrend, Rekt Capital argued, highlighting flagging alt presence versus Bitcoin.

In a sign of the pain affecting all crypto traders, meanwhile, data from on-chain monitoring resource Coinglass confirmed cross-market liquidations passing $1.2 billion in just 24 hours.

Crypto liquidations chart. Source: Coinglass

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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Bitcoin derivatives data shows no ‘bottom’ in sight as traders avoid leveraged long positions

Is it time to be greedy? Experienced market makers and arbitrage desks have turned strongly risk-averse as BTC price dropped to $22,600.

Bitcoin (BTC) lost the $28,000 support on June 12 following worsening macroeconomic conditions. The United States Treasury 2-year note yield closed on June 10 at 3.10%, its highest level since December 2007. This shows that traders are demanding higher rates to hold their debt instruments and expect inflation to remain a persistent challenge.

Louis S. Barnes, a senior loan officer at Cherry Creek, stated that as the United States reported its highest inflation in 40 years, the mortgage-backed securities (MBS) markets had zero buyers. Barnes added:

"Stocks are down 2% today [June 10], but would be down a hell of a lot more if considering what a full-stop to housing will mean."

MicroStrategy and Celsius leverage use raised alarms

Bitcoin’s sell-off is adding more pressure to the cryptocurrency market and various media are discussing whether the U.S. Nasdaq-listed analytics and business intelligence company MicroStrategy and its $205 million Bitcoin-collateralized loan with Silvergate Bank will add to the current crypto collapse. The interest-only loan was issued on March 29, 2022, and secured by Bitcoin, which is held in a mutually authorized custodian's account.

As stated by Microstrategy's earnings call by chief financial officer Phong Le on May 3, if Bitcoin plummeted to $21,000, an additional amount of margin would be required. However, on May 10, Michael Saylor clarified that the entire 115,109 BTC position could be pledged, reducing the liquidation to $3,562.

Lastly, Crypto staking and lending platform Celsius suspended all network withdrawals on June 13. Speculations of insolvency quickly emerged as the project moved massive amounts of wBTC and Ether (ETH) to avoid liquidation at Aave (AAVE), a popular staking and lending platform.

Celsius reported surpassing $20 billion in assets under management in August 2021, which was ideally more than enough to cause a doomsday scenario. While there is no way to determine how this liquidity crisis will unfold, the event caught Bitcoin's investors at the worst possible moment.

Bitcoin futures metrics are near bearish territory

Bitcoin's futures market premium, the primary derivatives metric, briefly moved to the negative area on June 13. The metric compares longer-term futures contracts and the traditional spot market price.

These fixed-calendar contracts usually trade at a slight premium, indicating that sellers request more money to withhold settlement for longer. As a result, the three-month futures should trade at a 4% to 10% annualized premium in healthy markets, a situation known as contango.

Whenever that indicator fades or turns negative (backwardation), it is an alarming red flag because it indicates that bearish sentiment is present.

Bitcoin 3-month futures annualized premium. Source: Laevitas.ch

While the futures premium had already been below the 4% threshold during the past nine weeks, it managed to sustain a moderate premium until June 13. While the current 1% premium might seem optimistic, it is the lowest level since April 30 and sits at the edge of a generalized bearish sentiment.

An unhealthy derivatives market is an ominous sign

Traders should analyze Bitcoin's options pricing to further prove that the crypto market structure has deteriorated. For example, the 25% delta skew compares similar call (buy) and put (sell) options. This metric will turn positive when fear is prevalent because the protective put options premium is higher than similar risk call options.

The opposite holds when greed is the prevalent mood, which causes the 25% delta skew indicator to shift to the negative area.

Deribit 30-day Bitcoin options 25% delta skew. Source: laevitas.ch

Readings between negative 8% and positive 8% are usually deemed neutral, but the 26.6 peak on June 13 was the highest reading ever registered. This aversion to pricing downside risks is unusual even for March 2020, when oil futures plunged to the negative side for the first time in history and Bitcoin crashed below $4,000.

The main message from Bitcoin derivatives markets is that professional traders are unwilling to add leverage long positions despite the extremely low cost. Furthermore, the absurd price gap for put (sell) options pricing shows that the June 13 crash to $22,600 caught experienced arbitrage desks and market markers by surprise.

For those aiming to "buy the dip" or "catch a falling knife," a clear bottom will only be formed once derivatives metrics imply that the market structure has improved. That will require the BTC futures' premium to reestablish the 4% level and options markets to find a more balanced risk assessment as the 25% delta skew returns to 10% or lower.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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Ethereum price dips below the $1.8K support as bears prepare for Friday’s $1B options expiry

Looming macroeconomic concerns and this week’s $1B ETH options expiry threaten to pin Ethereum price under the $1,800 support.

Ether's (ETH) performance over the past three months has been less than satisfying for holders and the 50% correction since April 3 caused the altcoin to test the $1,800 support for the first time since July 2021.

Ether/USD 1-day chart at Kraken. Source: TradingView

Due to the volatility in stocks, investors had been seeking shelter in the United States dollar and on May 13 the DXY index reached its highest level in 20 years. DXY measures the USD against a basket of major foreign currencies, including the British Pound (GBP), Euro (EUR) and Japanese Yen (JPY).

Moreover, the 5-year U.S. Treasury yield reached its highest level since August 2018, trading at 3.10% on May 9 and signaling that investors demand larger returns to compensate for inflation. In a nutshell, macroeconomic data reflects risk-averse sentiment from investors and this partially explains Ether's downturn.

Further creating panic among Ether traders was a 7-block chain reorg on Ethereum's Beacon Chain on May 25. A valid transaction sequence was knocked off the chain due to a competing block getting more support from network participants. Fortunately, this situation is not uncommon and it might have emerged from a miner with high resources or a bug.

The main victim of Ether’s 11% price correction was leverage traders (longs) who saw $160 million in aggregate liquidations at derivatives exchanges, according to data from Coinglass.

Bulls placed their bets at $2,100 and higher

The open interest for the Ether’s May monthly options expiry is $1.04 billion, but the actual figure will be much lower since bulls were overly-optimistic. These traders might have been fooled by the short-lived pump to $2,950 on May 4 because their bets for the May 27 options expiry extend beyond $3,000.

The drop below $1,800 took bulls by surprise because virtually none of the call (buy) options for May 27 have been placed below that price level.

Ether options aggregate open interest for May 27. Source: CoinGlass

The 0.94 call-to-put ratio shows the slight dominance of the $540 million put (sell) open interest against the $505 million call (buy) options. Nevertheless, as Ether stands near $1,800, every bullish bet is likely to become worthless.

If Ether's price remains below $1,800 at 8:00 am UTC on May 27, none of the $505 million call options will be available. This difference happens because a right to buy Ether at $1,800 or higher is worthless if Ether trades below that level on expiry.

Bears aim for a $325 million profit

Below are the three most likely scenarios based on the current price action. The number of options contracts available on May 27 for call (bull) and put (bear) instruments varies, depending on the expiry price. The imbalance favoring each side constitutes the theoretical profit:

  • Between $1,600 and $1,700: 0 calls vs. 230,000 puts. The net result favors the put (bear) instruments by $370 million.
  • Between $1,700 and $1,800: 50 calls vs. 192,300 puts. The net result favors bears by $325 million.
  • Between $1,800 and $2,000: 3,300 calls vs. 150,000 puts. The net result favors the put (bear) instruments by $280 million.

This crude estimate considers the put options used in bearish bets and the call options exclusively in neutral-to-bullish trades. Even so, this oversimplification disregards more complex investment strategies.

For instance, a trader could have sold a put option, effectively gaining positive exposure to Ether above a specific price, but unfortunately, there's no easy way to estimate this effect.

Bulls should throw the towel and focus on the June expiry

Ether bears need to sustain the price below $1,800 on May 27 to secure a $325 million profit. On the other hand, the bulls' best case scenario requires a push above $1,800 to reduce the damage by $45 million.

Ether bulls had $160 million leverage long positions liquidated on May 26, so they should have less margin to drive the price higher. With this said, bears will undoubtedly try to suppress Ether below $1,800 ahead of the May 27 options expiry.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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More Than $750,000,000 Worth of Crypto Liquidated in Just 12 Hours As Markets Sell Off

Tens of thousands of crypto traders have had their positions liquidated as markets across all sectors close out the week in the red. Data from the cryptocurrency futures trading and information platform Coinglass reveals that on November 25th, over $751 million worth of trader positions in digital assets were wiped out in a 12-hour span. […]

The post More Than $750,000,000 Worth of Crypto Liquidated in Just 12 Hours As Markets Sell Off appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

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3 ways traders use Bitcoin futures to generate profit

Most traders think futures contracts are only used to place ultra risky high leverage bets, but the instruments actually have a variety of uses.

Whenever there's data out on futures contracts liquidation, many novice investors and analysts instinctively conclude that it's degenerate gamblers using high leverage or other risky instruments. There's no doubt that some derivatives exchanges are known for incentivizing retail trading to use excessive leverage, but that does not account for the entire derivatives market.

Recently, concerned investors like Nithin Kamath, the founder and CEO at Zerodha, questioned how derivatives exchanges could handle extreme volatility while offering 100x leverage.

On June 16, journalist Colin Wu tweeted that Huobi had temporarily dropped the maximum trading leverage to 5x for new users. By the end of the month, the exchange had banned China-based users from trading derivatives on the platform.

After some regulatory pressure and possible complaints from the community, Binance futures limited new users' leverage trading at 20x on July 19. A week later, FTX followed the decision citing "efforts to encourage responsible trading."

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried asserted that the average open leverage position was roughly 2x, and only "a tiny fraction of activity on the platform" would be impacted. It's unknown whether these decisions have been coordinated or even mandated by some regulator.

Cointelegraph previously showed how a cryptocurrencies' typical 5% volatility causes 20x or higher leverage positions to be liquidated regularly. Thus, here are three strategies often used by professional traders are often more conservative and assertive.

Margin traders keep most of their coins on hard wallets

Most investors understand the benefit of maintaining the highest possible share of coins on a cold wallet because preventing internet access to tokens vastly diminishes the risk of hacks. The downside, of course, is that this position might not reach the exchange on time, especially when networks are congested.

For this reason, futures contracts are the preferred instruments traders use when they want to decrease their position during volatile markets. For example, by depositing a small margin like 5% of their holdings, an investor can leverage it by 10x and greatly reduce their net exposure.

These traders could then sell their positions on spot exchanges later after their transaction arrives and simultaneously close the short position. The opposite should be done for those looking to suddenly increase their exposure using futures contracts. The derivatives position would be closed when the money (or stablecoins) arrives at the spot exchange.

Forcing cascading liquidations

Whales know that during volatile markets, the liquidity tends to be reduced. As a result, some will intentionally open highly leveraged positions, expecting them to be forcefully terminated due to insufficient margins.

While they are 'apparently' losing money on the trade, they actually intended to force cascading liquidations to pressure the market in their preferred direction. Of course, a trader needs a large amount of capital and potentially multiple accounts to execute such a feat.

Leverage traders profit from the 'funding rate'

Perpetual contracts, also known as inverse swaps, have an embedded rate usually charged every eight hours. Funding rates ensure that there are no exchange risk imbalances. Even though both buyers' and sellers' open interest is matched at all times, the actual leverage used can vary.

When buyers (longs) are the ones demanding more leverage, the funding rate goes positive. Therefore, those buyers will be the ones paying up the fees.

Market makers and arbitrage desks will constantly monitor these rates and eventually open a leverage position to collect such fees. While it sounds easy to execute, these traders will need to hedge their positions by buying (or selling) in the spot market.

Using derivatives requires knowledge, experience, and preferably a sizable war chest to withstand periods of volatility. However, as shown above, it is possible to use leverage without being a reckless trader.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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Massive Short Squeeze Pushes Bitcoin Closer to $40K, Crypto Economy Jumps 9% Higher

Massive Short Squeeze Pushes Bitcoin Closer to K, Crypto Economy Jumps 9% HigherThe price of bitcoin jumped over 15% in a matter of three hours on Sunday evening and came awfully close to the $40K handle. Since then, the crypto asset has dropped back a few percentages and currently hovers above the $38K range. The entire cryptocurrency economy has spiked 9.72% rising to $1.53 trillion in overall […]

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Incoming Squeeze? Bitcoin Shorts on Bitfinex Spike, BTC Long Positions Tap Fresh New Highs

Incoming Squeeze? Bitcoin Shorts on Bitfinex Spike, BTC Long Positions Tap Fresh New HighsThe entire market capitalization of all 10,800 cryptocurrencies in existence is down 2.8% on Monday as bitcoin has lost over 2.4% during the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, bitcoin shorts are rising again after bitcoin shorts tapped a two-year high on the derivatives exchange Bitfinex on June 25. Bitcoin Shorts Climb Higher Bitcoin (BTC) and digital […]

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B.Protocol announces v2 platform for DeFi liquidations

B.Protocol says v2 will optimize liquidations of “big debt” with significantly smaller capital requirements on decentralized finance lending platforms.

Decentralized finance service B.Protocol has announced plans for a new version that will improve the liquidation of undercollateralized loan positions on lending platforms.

In a release issued on Tuesday, the backstop liquidity protocol for DeFi lending platforms revealed that the upcoming v2 is based on a white paper for a novel Backstop automated market maker (B.AMM) written by a couple of anonymous community members.

According to a blog post published by B.Protocol founder Yaron Velner the v1 design that utilized professional liquidators to share profits with users instead of miners was not sufficient to tackle the capital inefficiency problem.

Unlike centralized exchanges like Binance that offer leveraged trading up to 100 times user deposits, the leverage ratio on decentralized exchanges (DEX) rarely exceeds five times. This significantly lower leverage limit is despite the massive liquidity pool available to DEX platforms.

For Velner and the B.AMM white paper authors, the poor leverage limit on DEXes forces lending platforms to be conservative with their loan collateral factors. Indeed, with high slippage and tight spreads on AMMs like Uniswap and SushiSwap, liquidation on DeFi lending platforms appears restricted to flash loan arbitraging.

DeFi lending platforms like Maker utilize a system of market-maker-keeper (or keepers) responsible for, among other functions, executing liquidations. These keepers have been the focus of scrutiny during black swan events like Black Thursday back in March 2020.

However, as previously reported by Cointelegraph earlier in June, DeFi liquidation mechanisms generally performed well amid a “tsunami of liquidations in May.”

B.Protocol’s solution to the problem is in the form of a platform that allows users to provide liquidity for possible liquidations — debt repayment in return for collateral — via an automatic rebalancing protocol that converts collateral for debt repayment.

According to Velner and the B.AMM white paper, the rebalancing process will be based on the Curve Finance stable swap invariant for asset pricing. While the stable swap invariant is designed for correlated asset pairs like Dai (DAI) and Tether (USDT), B.Protocol v2 will expand it for uncorrelated pairs like DAI and Ether (ETH).

In a conversation with Cointelegraph, Velner explained how the stable swap invariant will be expanded to work for uncorrelated asset pairs on B.Protocol v2:

“The system is designed specifically for non-correlated assets. This is possible because the system relies on an external price feed (e.g., Chainlink). The Curve Finance's stable swap invariant is only used to determine the discount in the rebalance process.”

Related: Cointelegraph Consulting: DeFi hit by a tsunami of liquidations in May

By using an external price feed like Chainlink, B.Protocol asset pricing can be generalized in U.S. dollar terms.

According to the B.AMM white paper, the proposed high leverage DeFi liquidation platform can handle liquidation of up to $1 billion per month. The announcement also revealed that DeFi lending platforms can increase their collateral factors by up to four times on the B .Protocol v2.

Apart from the potential to increase collateral factors for DeFi lending, Velner also told Cointelegraph that the team ran simulations on the protocol during the volatile periods in May with the results showing substantial yields for users.

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